Organization Update

I took a first step in my organizational mission this week and cleaned out and organized my .... bathroom vanities. Oh yeah, I went there. First. It actually took hardly any time (maybe an hour?) and made a huge difference!

I just went through, trashed whatever needed it, wiped everything down (the inside of the drawers gather so much dust - yuck!), and put things back. To increase the functionality (?) of the cabinets, I just gathered a few extra storage bins I had lying around to group things together. That way things aren't just thrown in there randomly.

I obviously didn't take any before/after photos, because a) who wants to see the BEFORE photos of that? and b) who really wants to see even the AFTER photos of somebody's bathroom cabinets??! I did however feel great about getting it done.

I was thinking about the idea of decorating your home - which I admit I have put the majority of my focus on. Which is fun and great - but after cleaning out my bathroom, I thought "What's the point of having things look so great on the outside, when the inside is all cluttered and chaotic?" It just felt a little fake to me to have a beautiful headboard for my bed (see project here) but who knows what's shoved under that bed? Does that make sense at all?

Obviously I'm not striving for perfection here or in any other area of my home - it's all about making *progress*.....

Next up - my kid's rooms. Anybody have any great tips for organizing kids' clothes???!?

UPDATE: Well, hello! The Thrifty Decor Chick (link to the right!) is having a party today with links for cleaning/organizing tips! How timely! I didn't offer anything but I am checking out all the links! I thought I'd pass along the party site so any of you can check it out, too! Thanks, TDC!

http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-fresh-and-so-clean-party.html

Tipping Point....

Can I just say when I started this little blog this summer I was hoping it would be a place for my girlfriends and I to share our home project failures and successes. I never imagined close to a 100 of you would stop by and enjoy our projects and share some of your own. Thanks for sticking around!

I love having followers - love it, love it, love it - but towards the end of last year I started feeling bad if I didn't post once a day, and couldn' t believe when I would go more than a week, etc.

The real tipping point that made me realize I needed a break was I found myself starting to do projects just to have something to blog when it really should be the other way around.

So....I needed a break. You know where I'm coming from, right? Right?

Anyway, I realized today I needed to start focusing a little more on my home.

I came to this realization when I sent my husband a text asking where my debit card was, he wrote back "Junk drawer" and I wrote back, "Which one?" Oops....

So I decided to use this blog (with all of you invisible friends who I'm pretending are not here and are certainly not reading this) as a way to keep myself accountable.

First, I'm tackling my clutter. My house is certainly not "Hoarders"-worthy, but there are definite hot spots. (Kids toys, maybe? Under the sink in the bathroom, anyone? Oh yeah, I'm going there.)

Then, I'm going to experiment and find a good way to keep organization part of my routine - so I don't have to ask which junk drawer ever again!

I know organization and de-cluttering are popular resolutions for the New Year and the blogosphere is full of great ideas. But I'm trying to not label this as a resolution or a temporary goal. I think in order for my home to continue progressing, it's time to get some organizational tools in check. Hope you'll follow along!